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Show ' " (By c-0fof-:'- ,cr0 t vl"S. whcrontngs - dmnlp cradle' air; llnnth SuSuehanna; where Tunic AlonShnnnocli's water flow; n JX mdse's wooded hilltops, 0 down tp the Delaware thn raiW of Lackawanna, thoso Bun ihln'nB' bands of Btool Tha bin" the towns together, from, Lake Erie to the sea; Ad tonight, as I sit dream ing, in,nvy: A lonesome heart I feel, nnir rails of Lackawanna, where you arc, I yearn to be. cv,r the rails of Lackawanna pass the miot where I was born; Thoy cross "South Branch" Dplow the place where as a b6y 1 They glisten In the sunshine of the Pennsylvania morn I That lights the hemlock studded vales where my dear dead are The whistle of her engines wakes the echoes I once heard In years agpnc, when for the sport, I called them up to me; When hillside' tossed to hillside each merry, mirthful -word; When rocks and rills were laugh ing in happiness and glee. Down "Martin's Crock" to Alford, 'twas "Montrose Depot" then; i Past Ira Hell's old saw mill, with its maple bordered pond Us sunllsh and its pickerel next to "Hophottom" then The rails of Lackawanna swing their easy curves around. Across the bridge at Nicholson far, ifar below the stream Up "Robert's Hill," by Uncle Ben's, then through tunnel go; Down by "Jack Gardner's" timber tract and round the hill they gleam, To homo nnd friends in that dear place there in the vale below. Southward to Tlllinghast's cool grovc3; through Dal ton's quaint old town It once was "Bailey Hollow" say forty years ago Around the hills of birch and beech to pretty Lake Glenburn, Which dances, shimmers in the sun 1 as past they onward go. Whizz! through "Tho Notch" where rearing brook its waters dash in rage Against tho flinty boulders, those rails continue on Until before tho eye appears, like picture pic-ture on a page, Dear, dusty, coal-stained, dirty, but ever-loved Scranton. I Then up the lnurol-covered slopes to l'oeono's cool glens; Through gorges whero tho Nay Aug its ripples churns to foam, To pine-tipped plains whero fall so soft the gentle summer rains; Whero tho bob-o'-link and robin slug their sweetest songs of homo. Adown (lie mountain side to whore tho river through tho rim A channel cut while yet tho eartli swung a now planet born Whore its rushing tide a lovo song hums; an echo of tho hymn Tho angels sang together, on that glad Creation morn. Oh, vails of Lackawanna! your iron ribbons bind Tho little towns along tho lino together to-gether as one place; All tistance Is abolished where'er fhoy sinuous wind; Tl' people all are neighbors through tho virtue of thy grace. And far across a continent they run, o'en to tho heart Of a fellow who Is homesick for another an-other sight of theo; Who's longing for tho time to come, the day he'll make a start ' .For tho country whero thy engines snort and whislo in their glee. Oh, rails of Lackawanna! should the summons from above; The great subpoena from on high, be nearer than it seem, If, unexpected, I am galled to tho great land of love, , May I ride to my resting place where undisturbed by dream O'er thy smooth surface, and when 1 in tho long sleep am laid, May tho green turf that marks my couch be very close to you, Kor, Ralls of Lackawanna, I am sure it's truly said: "From God's county, ono of Heaven's Heav-en's shore can get tho nearest view." |